As we start the New Year we look forward to new beginnings or not, depending on your life situation; however, change is inevitable, and the unknown does exist. Unless you have a special crystal ball that no one else on the planet has.

As for the economy, in normal times January usually sets the pace for the rest of the year, but we aren’t in normal times. My parents use to tell me that back in their day they could plan with a certain amount of certainty but as time moves on and technology increases what once took days or weeks now takes minutes or seconds.

What about the talk about robotics taking over work that is normally accomplished by humans??? That is a ridiculous statement since automation has been with us since the beginning of time it has just exponentially expanded due to necessity on a multitude of levels.

Our geopolitical world that we live in is in a state of flux with those wanting to erase the past and create a new reality and those wanting to hold on to a coulter that is familiar and represents stability and those forces with their own agenda and control (the grass isn’t always greener on the other side!).

So how do we move forward with our businesses in this hyper changing world? How do we either maintain and or grow with less resources in both materials and human assets? Part of the answer is personal responsibility by getting involved in your community and government. In many cases if not most government is not the answer but they should be a trusted partner. We need to encourage entrepreneurial-ship, vocational training, and reduces regulations.

For those business ever so small to the mid-size and above “must” offer internships and apprentice programs. Apprentice programs have been around since the dawn of time but have been dwindling with an over reliance on the educational system to produce the workers of today and tomorrow.

Creating and or reviewing your business plan optimized for the environment that we find ourselves in with a five-year projection with growth in mind is a key. Ask an outsider for whom you trust to come and look at how easy it would be for them to run your operation without knowing anything. This will give you a look are how complicated or how simple your operation is to manage. The more complicated the more room for mistakes and loss of revenue as well as it being harder to train that new apprentice or intern that you hired.

Review your systems and processes to see where automation can be of benefit, not just in the shop or plant floor but in the office as well. Automation will march forward with or without you, stay competitive.

Your New Years resolution needs to be “Change the Unknown” drive your path forward before someone else drives it for you!

As we approach our holiday season we gather, celebrate, and commune enjoying family and friends and work to escape the noise of everyday life and pressures. Making friends and remembering family is the key to the season. This might at first seem to be out of place for a business newsletter; however, business is a relationship business.

With the above being said finding a friend is often a mysterious process that seems to happen almost as if by magic. You meet them, see them in different situations, and somehow you end up being lifelong friends. Sometimes you can foster friendships and help to sustain it by using trust, commonality, and good body language.

When you are open to a friendship, you might indicate that by showing an open palm and not crossing any of your appendages. It is always important to maintain good eye contact with someone you are being friendly with. Just don’t stare at them, that would be a bit creepy!

In fact, you can be attentive to a person by focusing on that person with your ears, your eyes, and your body. You can also show them your feelings through your body language. You can project interest in them by tilting your head when they speak. Look at them in an alert and interested way.

Sometimes, just by spending time with a person, you are automatically giving them body language cues that you are willing to be friends. By showing signs that you are listening to them you will have a better chance at friendship.

Once you have established something of a friendship through body language and conversation, you can allow yourself to get even closer to your new friend.
Empathy is an important aspect of friendship. If your friend can’t identify with your feelings, you might not feel that they’re very valuable as a friend. To have this value, you need to show empathy in your body language.

You can do this by leaning in when the person is speaking of matters of importance to them. Show your emotions through your body language. Laugh, smile, cry, or touch when it seems right. Hug them if it seems comfortable (and acceptable) but follow their body language cues to determine if it makes them feel anxious.

If you have made a friend, there will be two people that will grow their life experience and find comfort that most humans look for. Yet, you can never neglect your friendship and assume it will always be the same. It’s up to you to send your friend the right body language signals to let them know they are still appreciated and cared for.

In studies, it has been shown that kids with learning disabilities have a hard time maintaining friendships. They can make friends easily. Yet, when the friend interacts with them on a daily basis, they have trouble understanding the friend’s body language. This leads to hurt feelings and ultimately to a loss of the friendship. If you are to avoid this pitfall, you must pay attention to your friend’s body language and read it correctly.

Body language can help you make a friend and help you to understand your friend better. By knowing about body language, you can use it to help you maintain a good relationship.

Knowing body language and using it can be the difference between having an acquaintance and truly having a friend.

“A friend is someone who helps you up when you’re down, and if they can’t, they lay down beside you and listen.” — Winnie the Pooh

Successful business build leaders not robots or puppets.

Leadership style plays a crucial role in the development of an organization. Transactional leadership is of the leadership style that is often used by many companies. Transactional leadership believes that punishment and reward motivate people.

This leadership also assumes that when people agree to do a particular assignment, a part of that agreement is that they give up all authority to their boss. The leader holds control and power over the subordinates. The main goal of the employee is to obey the orders of their managers.

The idea is that when a subordinate takes up a job, he or she agrees to obey their manager totally. The ‘transaction’ is the money or any other award that the company pays to its subordinates for their compliance and effort. The relationship between the subordinate and the leader becomes transactional. In transactional leadership the leader has the right to punish his or her subordinates if their performance is not according to the predetermined standard.

Transactional leadership makes clear that what is required and expected from their subordinates. It also mentions that subordinates will get an award if they follow the orders seriously. Sometimes punishments are not mentioned but they are understood. In the early stages of transactional leadership, subordinate is in the process of negotiating the contract. The contract specifies fixed salary and the benefits that will be given to the subordinate. Rewards are given to subordinates for applied effort. Some organization use incentives to encourage their subordinates for greater productivity. Transactional leadership is a way of increasing the performance of its subordinates by giving them rewards. Transactional leadership is also called as ‘true leadership style as it focuses on short term goals instead of long-term goals.

In Transactional leadership, when the leader assigns work to its subordinates, then it is the responsibility of the subordinate to see that the assigned task is finished on time. If the assigned task is not completed on time or if something, then punishment is given for their failure. But if they accomplish the task in time then the subordinates are given reward for successfully completing the task. Subordinates are also given award and praised for exceeding expectations. A subordinate whose performance is below expectation is punished and some action is taken to increase his or her performance.

Transactional leadership has more of a ‘telling style’. Transactional leadership is based on the fact that reward or punishment is dependent on the performance. Even though researchers have highlighted its limitations, transactional leadership is still used by many employers. More and more companies are adopting transactional leadership to increase the performance of its employees. This approach is prevalent in real workplace.

The main limitation of this leadership is that it assumes that people are largely motivated by simple rewards. Under transactional leadership, employees can’t do much to improve job satisfaction. Transaction leadership has been ineffective in providing skilled employees to their organization. This style of leadership is least interested in changing the work environment.

Experts do not recommend this approach. Transactional leadership focuses more on management of punishments and rewards. The major downside to transactional leadership is the it leads to employee turn over which is costly as well as low morale.

Build individual talent brings its own rewards. Its up to a leader to foster that talent by being a mentor and helping to guide the process. Letting people fail when you as the leader had the ability to step in make the leader not a leader in every sense of the word.

Successful business build leaders not robots or puppets.

We can’t do it all in business or life in general so we must delegate tasks and or action to move the business agenda forward. Wikipedia defines delegation as: “The assignment of authority to another person to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person. Delegation is one of the core concepts of management leadership.”

Delegating is probably one of the most mishandled forms of communication in business. Delegation has two parts to it, to delegate and to follow-up. A majority of the time the second part is generally not done or in a timely manner.

Typically, an order is barked out verbally and not written down then forgotten or an email was sent and then lost in the minutiae of the day with the thousands of other emails received.

There are simple tools that can be incorporated into your daily life to improve efficiencies and reduce your stress in a simple way:

• Old school “Avoid Verbal Orders” (AVO’s) a two-part written form given to the person you are tasking that states what is to be done and when it is to be done by then keeping a copy for your recorders to follow-up with.
• Using a built-in task manager such as Outlook where a task can be assigned with a due date.
• The incorporation of an excel spreadsheet that may list several tasks to one person or to a group, listing the tasks, issue date, and a required completion date.
• Specialized task management software (there are many) with the following attributes:
• Project Management.
• Team Collaboration.
• Individual workload Management.
• Time Tracking.
• Client Permission Management.
• Third Party Integration.
• Team Chat.
• Gantt Charts.

An effective method for moving agenda’s forward and to manage tasks on a professional manner is to have frequent staff and or team meetings that review the goals and tasks to verify their progression as well as their current validity. This helps the communication process and guards against “gotchas” that nobody wants if they are truly authentic in their agendas.

We delegate on a daily basis, whether we know it or not. By professionalizing the process there is a high likelihood that this skill may spill over into your personal life and help to reduce miscommunication that may lead to senseless arguments and animosity that does no one any good.

As I have countlessly said “we are all in the communication business”. If we can’t communicate effectively, business can’t be successful and grow.

Many freelancers and service providers market in broad strokes, hoping to catch the attention of a large number of people and praying that several of them will be motivated enough to actually give their services a try.

However, in order to get clients, you usually have to answer their unspoken question, “What’s in it for me?” This might require more direct input, helping you forge connections with potential clients. Through developing a relationship with them, they are much more likely to be willing to give you a try. If they give your business a try and like you, this could be the beginning of their becoming loyal to your brand.

There are several ways to use direct contact to connect with prospective customers. Here are just a few suggestions.

Your Customer Service Box

Pay attention to the people who contact you directly, treating every one of them like a prospect. Be polite and courteous. Set up a reminder for yourself, or your assistant, to contact them again in a week to see if they have any further questions. This kind of follow-up will stand out in their mind.

Face to Face

Carry business cards (I use to not do this) with you everywhere. Take business cards from others as well. Write notes on the back as to what your follow-up steps should be. Sticky notes and a pen will also work to remind you of the person’s contact details and the information you promised to send, such as a special cheat sheet or handout. Always position yourself as a problem solver.

You can meet prospects anywhere, including standing in line for coffee, so pay attention to your appearance (80% of the sale) even if you work from home and are just popping out for a few minutes to grab a latte. If you live in a large city, there are often industry-related networking events. The local Chamber of Commerce will also usually have a calendar of live events (one of the best resources you can find). They are always looking for interesting speakers as well, so if you have a hot topic within your niche, don’t be afraid to offer your time. You’ll get plenty of free publicity in exchange.

Trade shows and conferences are ideal places to meet clients and mingle with important people in your niche or industry. Even getting just a small booth gives you (and your staff) the chance to get walk-by traffic and increase your visibility. Remember, people do business with people they like, so be personable and sincere.

On the Phone

Some people still prefer the old-fashioned telephone. If they leave a message, be sure to phone them back in a timely manner. Telemarketing can also be very challenging do to the overload of spam calling.

Social Media

Pay attention to the people who like, comment and share regularly. If they are connected with you, you should be able to contact them via Messenger or other direct means of contact to say you’ve noticed them, appreciate them following you, and would like to know if you can help them in some way. Also, catchy short (30 seconds) entertaining video’s showcasing your products and services can get you notices but be creative.

Email Marketing

Take advantage of your email marketing lists by sending out useful newsletters once a month (kind of like this one), with special offers and the latest news – such as new services you are offering. Of course, you have to get them on the list first, so be sure to offer a free eCourse or eBook that helps solve a common problem in your niche. When you connect with people on social media, you can also give them the landing page for the free item and invite them to check it out.

Personalize your approach in getting new clients using these ideas, and you will find more people who will be willing to give you a try. Continuous self-improvement is the key to success in anything that you set your mind to.

Have you ever found yourself visiting a business establishment where the customer service was less than professional or simply out right rude and disrespectful? Unfortunately, this is more commonplace than you may think. Social norms and mutual respect has been deteriorating for years and has become acceptable in our society.

Those business owners that can see this trend and provide a “cut above” service will win the day and hopefully send a strong positive message to our society. It may not just be the pressures of life or the breakdown of society that is the cause (cell phones and social media has not been the best in keeping things civil).

Many people simply find it uncomfortable to talk in front of people who they simply don’t know. Some people find a difficult audience to be someone who they know because they may be judged in a more hurtful and critical manner due to familiarity. For those who speak or give a sales pitch in front of others that they are not familiar with often give a better presentation. It’s the notion that you don’t know these people and you could care less of what they think of you motivating you to develop and deliver a good presentation. Some find it a blessing to speak to someone who you have never met or know well which defies common sense.

The first thing that you should keep in mind is to check your baggage at the door. Whatever issues are going on in your life they are your issues and not anyone else’s issues, they have their own to deal with. Get comfortable with the other person and try to learn a little bit about that person. This way you can reduce the stress and pressure of the encounter that typically add roadblocks in communicating.

Being comfortable and fostering two-way communication is the key to disseminating information and idea that will build trust. Before you know it, you’ll provide the necessary information into the conversation providing the level of service that is anticipated and will bond the two of you. Maintaining mutual attention and engagement is the key to a satisfied customer. You will want to think about communication tools that you may want to use to break the ice, the best is to be cognizant of your tone. attitude and always speak with a smile; stay away from jokes at all costs.

If you are paying attention and providing great service, you will know what someone is thinking about you and your performance before you even ask. In fact if you read their body language you will be able to tell right away. If you notice that they are getting tired of talking, you may want to give them a chance by asking them what they think. You may also want to pick up on cue signs. When you begin to drag things into tiny details, you will see it on their face; use their body signs as cues to gage if you are giving the correct information and the appropriate level of service.

There are many other tools that you may use regardless if you know the person or not. The basis that you will need to focus on is creating and keeping the bond with the person that will help and enhance your communication and customer satisfaction. The key is to stay calm before and during the entire presentation. Breathing techniques can be of a great help to keep you calm, focused, and stress free. You will want to experiment and find out what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. There are many ways that you can keep your cool throughout your presentation, or sales pitch, being confident in your materials is extremely important.

When it comes to delivering the presentation, if you make any mistakes, they probably will not notice unless you bring it to their attention. When you make a mistake, take it with stride and move on, don’t try to correct what you just said. It was once said to me from a wise mentor “no one knows what you are going to say but you”.

Be calm, leave your baggage at the door, breath, put a smile on your face when talking and be kind no matter what!

When you can remember someone’s name, it shows them that they are important to you, but how to get good at it?

You may think that learning someone’s name can be hard, but it’s really not when you take the time to follow some of the tricks. You will want to think about the reasons why you may forget someone’s face and name first. It may be years ago that you last saw the person and people change quickly in their appearance. You may find that it is just stress that you are under and if you eliminate some of your stress, then you’ll be able to obtain a good memory. You may also find that it is just because you are faint in age (not generally the case). However, the reason why you may forget someone’s face is not as important as it is to how you can try to remember a person’s name and face.

There are some things that you do not want to do as well.

In business

Degrees of success in life and in business can be directly related to your ability to remember someone’s name. There is even a myth from ancient times that remembering someone’s name was reserved for only the Gods. Take the last statement for what’s is worth, but we all are impressed by that person who is good with names.

Globalization and technical advancements have made it mandatory for almost all organizations to make changes in their organization, in one way or the other. Experiences of such organizational changes serve as interesting key points to know while implementing such changes in another organization, experience matters. Here is a compilation of some of the key mistakes that should be avoided while implementing a change in an organization.

These steps will let you implement an efficient change in your organization with a high success rate.

Five methods of how to act and be self-confident. There are many reasons why people need to have self-confidence; however, making sure that you show your self-confidence when you go to that job interview, selling to customers, and so on is the key to your success. You will want to think about what you will need to truly understand the product, the needs of the customer or the jib position to personally believe and never fake it. Even if you do not feel like you are going to make the sell or feel like you are going to get the job, you still must walk in the room like you own it.

When it comes to thinking that you may have to fake self-confidence, think twice. There are many things that you can do to overcome this, so that you feel more like you really do have the confidents.

Allawos & Company has helped countless individuals and companies alike reach their goals and discover new potential.